


The Oxygen Between

by LuthienLuinwe



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU, DCU (Comics), Red Hood and the Outlaws (Comics)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Hurt Jason Todd, Injury Recovery, RHATO 25, roy is a good friend
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-27
Updated: 2019-01-27
Packaged: 2019-10-17 17:31:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17564915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuthienLuinwe/pseuds/LuthienLuinwe
Summary: A call from Jason at two in the morning never meant anything good. Roy had learned that early on in their partnership, and years later his stomach dropped every damn time he heard Jason’s ringtone in the middle of the night.Jason was almost never silent, at least not around Roy. There was always something to say, something to do,something…The word came out in one, strangled syllable, as if it was taking every ounce of strength Jason had to say it.“Help.”





	The Oxygen Between

A call from Jason at two in the morning never meant anything good. Roy had learned that early on in their partnership, and years later his stomach dropped every damn time he heard Jason’s ringtone in the middle of the night. 

He wasn’t stupid. He’d seen the news. Everyone had. Red Hood had shot Penguin at point-blank range. And Jason had been doing so well too… Something had to have happened to make him snap, and he must have been something that couldn’t have waited until the morning if he was calling Roy this early in the morning.

Roy slid the lockbar and held the phone up to his ear. “Hey Jay,” he spoke, trying and failing to hide the grogginess from his voice. It was his first night off in what felt like months, and he’d been looking forward to getting an actual full night’s rest. But Jason was more important than sleep. He always would be.

Something was wrong. He knew that even before Jason had the chance to say anything. A phone call at two in the morning usually meant Jason ranting into the receiver for hours on end about whatever the hell had happened, whatever the hell Bruce had done. Or an immediate, panicked, ‘I need your help  _ now.’ _

“Jay?” Roy asked again, more alert that time. He sat up with a start and climbed out of bed, already hunting for a change of clothes. He could hear ragged breathing from the other end of the line, and wondered, just for a moment, if Jason had called him by mistake. “Talk to me, Jay. You’re freaking me out, here.”

Jason was almost never silent, at least not around Roy. There was always something to say, something to do,  _ something…  _

The word came out in one, strangled syllable, as if it was taking every ounce of strength Jason had to say it. 

“Help.”

Roy felt his stomach drop and woke his computer, not wasting any time to start a trace on the call. If Jason was struggling to ask for help, there was no way in hell he’d be able to tell Roy where he was.

Had one of Penguin’s goons gone after him?

No. That was stupid. Jason could handle an everyday thug on his own, no problem…

So what the hell had happened?

“Stay on the line, Jay,” he commanded, trying to keep his voice calm, steady, as he waited for the computer to triangulate the call.

Jason was damned lucky Roy happened to be near Gotham for a case.

“You don’t have to talk to me,” he continued as he wrote down the location. He threw some clothes on, not bothering to see if they coordinated or if his shirt was even right-side-out.

He grabbed his keys and ran out of the apartment, grateful no one would be able to stop him and ask what was wrong at such an ungodly hour. He backed out of his parking space and hit the road, trying to talk to Jason as he weaved his way through the city streets.

Roy made it to the pinged location in what felt like seconds, not nearly half an hour, and jumped out of the car, leaving it running. He scanned over the area, swearing when he saw no sign of Jason anywhere. “Hey buddy,” he spoke into the phone. “I’m here, okay? Just looking for you.”

He thought he heard an affirmative noise from the other end of the line, but he wouldn’t have put money on it. 

He wandered about the area, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of Jason, and nearly dropped his phone when he saw the younger man collapsed on the ground, broken and bloody and bruised. His helmet was completely cracked and lying beside him, and someone had ripped the bat symbol off his chest.

“Shit, Jason,” Roy breathed and ended the call, running over to the collapsed form before him and dropping down beside him. 

Jason blinked and looked over at Roy, but his gaze was unsteady, unfocused… “It’s me, Jaybird,” Roy quickly tried to assess the situation. 

Bad didn’t even begin to cover it.

“What the hell happened?” he demanded, even though, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, he  _ knew.  _

Jason shut his eyes tightly and tried to shake his head, but Roy prevented him from making that small motion. The situation was bad. It was worse than bad, and Roy wasn’t entirely sure what to do. Moving Jason would be risky, potentially dangerous, even.

But if Roy did nothing, Jason would die.

Roy took one of Jason’s hand in his own and squeezed it tightly. “It’s gonna be okay, Jaybird,” he soothed, even though he wasn’t sure that statement was even a little bit true. “I’ve got you. It’s gonna be okay.”

He needed help. Jason was massive at six-four and at least two-forty, most of it solid muscle. He tried not to flinch when he heard a wet, wheezing noise each time Jason inhaled. Jason needed calm. He needed someone who could handle the situation. And Roy was unlucky enough to be that person.

Jason’s eyes started to droop, and Roy swore loudly. “Not now, Jay,” he snapped. “You can sleep once we’re out of here, okay? But I need you to stay awake for me.”

_ Think, Harper,  _ Roy scolded himself. How had he been stupid enough to show up to help Jason without even bringing basic medical supplies?

It was a catch-22. Moving Jason would make things worse and potentially kill him… Not moving him at all made it certain Jason would die. 

He was sure he’d made worse bets in his life… though none of them came to mind in that particular instance. 

Roy took a shaky breath and tried to move Jason into a sitting position, flinching when Jason screamed in pain.

He’d never heard Jason scream before. Cry out? Yes. Swear? Thousands of times. But never an actual scream.

“I know, Jay,” Roy moved a hand to support Jason’s back, trying to keep him from falling back to the ground. “I know this hurts, and it’s about to get a hell of a lot worse, but you’re doing great, okay? You’re doing great…”

_ What the hell did he do to you?  _ Roy wondered. He was almost grateful for the dark. At least then he couldn’t see the full extent of the number Bruce had done on his best friend. But not being able to see everything made the entire situation hundreds of times more dangerous…

Jason needed a hospital. Roy was sure of that much. But Jason was legally dead, and Gotham wasn’t safe for him if the Bat had turned his back on the Red Hood. 

Jason had mentioned a doctor with a clinic who had treated the family’s more serious injuries in the past… But Roy didn’t trust her not to tell Bruce about the situation.  _ One step at a time,  _ he told himself. 

Roy gave Jason a second to recover from the movement before moving directly beside him and wrapping the arm that had been supporting Jason’s back under his arms. “This is gonna hurt like hell,” he warned before standing, forcing Jason to come up with him.

Jason screamed again, but Roy was more prepared that time. He forced his free hand over Jason’s mouth, muffling the sound, at least a little bit. The last thing they needed was for some concerned citizen to hear and come to check on them. Wouldn’t they be shocked to see Oliver Queen’s son helping a known criminal?

“Breathe, Jaybird,” Roy commanded. “This is the hard part, okay? It’s all easier from here.” It was bullshit. He knew it, and he was sure Jason knew it, but it got Jason to take several deep, shaky breaths in an attempt to calm himself down.

He hoped it was his imagination, but the wet, wheezing sound seemed to get worse with every inhale.

He couldn’t help but think he was in way over his head.

* * *

 

It took a week and a half for Jason to wake up for a substantial amount of time. 

Had Roy not been too worried about his friend, he would have shown up on Bruce’s doorstep ready to fight. But he had to keep his priorities in order. Jason needed a friend a hell of a lot more than he needed someone to go after Bruce. 

“Hey,” Roy forced a smile when he felt Jason’s hand stir and saw his eyes snap open. If the past several days were anything to go off of, Jason would look around with a confused expression before falling back to sleep.

Something was different this time, though. Jason was more alert, his eyes clearer. He shot Roy a confused expression, and Roy shot him a friendly smile in return. “It’s okay, Jaybird,” he promised. “Just me. We’re at our Brunley safehouse, you know, the one Batman doesn’t know about?”

He watched Jason nod slowly before visibly relaxing, if only a little bit. Roy had wanted to get him as far away from Gotham as he could, but too much travel while Jason was still half-dead was too risky. 

Roy squeezed Jason’s hand again and nodded approvingly when Jason squeezed it back, however weak his grip was being irrelevant for the time being. “I need you to do something for me, okay?” He waited for Jason to give him a slight nod before continuing. “I know everything hurts and you just want to go back to sleep, but I need your full name, my name, and where we are, okay?”

He tried to keep a neutral expression as he watched Jason struggle to find the answers. “Jason?” Jay responded after a minute, but it came out more as a question than it did an answer. His voice was hoarse from lack of use, and Roy had to struggle to hear him. It wasn’t the full response Roy had asked for, but he was willing to take it. “...Roy?” he continued. He watched Jason glance around the room, as if trying to remember where they were, despite the fact that Roy had told him not two minutes prior. “I… We’re… I..”

“It’s okay, Jaybird,” Roy squeezed his hand again. “We’re in Brunley, near the university. The safehouse Bruce doesn’t know about.” He watched as visible relief flooded over Jason’s features. “On a scale from one to ten, how bad is your pain?”

Jason started to answer, stopped himself, and took a deep breath before trying again. “Seven?” he asked more than answered before nodding and repeating “seven” mostly to himself.

“Okay,” Roy  nodded and reached for the prescription bottle on the nightstand, shaking two pills out into his hand and handing them to Jason along with a glass of water. 

He watched Jason eye them suspiciously, but breathed a sigh of relief when the younger man took them. “Go back to sleep, Jay,” Roy smoothed Jason’s hair down with his free hand. “I’ll be right here when you wake up.”

Roy watched Jason nod slowly before closing his eyes once more.

He was never going to leave Jason alone again.


End file.
